Creator Bio

Ovadiah Sforno

ca. 1470–ca. 1550

Ovadiah Sforno was born in Cesena, Italy. He later studied philosophy, mathematics, philology, and medicine in Rome, where he also taught Hebrew to the Christian humanist Johannes Reuchlin. Sforno finally settled in Bologna, where he helped revive the Hebrew printing house, reorganize the community, and establish a house of study. Sforno died in Bologna. He is most famed for his commentaries on the Pentateuch, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes (Venice, 1567), the last of which was dedicated to King Henri II of France. He avoided mystical and kabbalistic interpretations and paid little attention to philology, geography, or history, but on occasion he employed his medical knowledge to explain commandments. Sforno also composed the philosophical work Or ‘amim (Light of the Peoples; Bologna, 1537), a commentary on Pirke Avot, a translation of Euclid, and other texts that remain in manuscript.

Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator

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Last Will and Testament

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In the year fifteen hundred and forty-nine, the seventh indiction, the first day of the month of February, during the time of the pontificate of the Holy Father in Christ Our Lord, Lord Paul III, pope…

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Commentary: On the Pentateuch

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Text

And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojourning, in the land of Canaan (Genesis 37:1): In that part of the land of Canaan where his father had lived, similar to the verse: [To Mamre, to Kiryat…